Olympic Cities Distance Quiz (3 of 6)- Barcelona to Beijing

Today, we head from Barcelona, Spain, where they are likely still in jubilation after defeating Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 Soccer Cup, to Beijing, China, where James Fallows of "The Atlantic" seems to spend a lot of time (forgive the frequent magazine reader humor).

The 1992 Barcelona Olympics were the ones which featured the Dream Team which represented the United States. The team which featured Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan beat the African nation of Angola 116-48 in one preliminary game, but hopefully the Angolans got some autographs afterwards.

In women's gymnastics in Barcelona, Tatiana Gutsu of Romania edged American gymnast Shannon Miller for all-around individual gold; Russian swimmers Alexander Popov (pictured) and Yevgeny Sadovyi won five gold medals between them.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, American gymnast Nastia Liukin (pictured here) edged out teammate Shawn Johnson for all-around individual gold; American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals?!


So, today we ask how far a part are these cities; is the answer?:

A) 5,180 miles

B) 5,480 miles

C) 5,680 miles

D) 5,980 miles

UPDATE: The answer is B

Quote the Day/Week-Charles Barkley

Ahh, yes, we could be watching the film "Man's Favorite Sport (1964, dir. Howard Hawks) with Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss right now on TCM, but instead, we are dedicating an entry with a quote from Charles Barkley, who was not the inspiration for the 1980s sitcom "Charles in Charge" with Scott Baio of "Happy Days" fame.

Today, we are starting a month-long series of quotes from American athletes who won gold or silver at the Olympics. And, even though Barkley's Phoenix Suns lost to his friend Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals, the Auburn alum did win two gold medals in basketball at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as part of the "Dream Team."

Barkley lead the Dream Team in scoring during the 1992 games when he scored 30 points in a 127-83 win over Brazil. Barkley was also involved in an ugly incident when he elbowed Herlander Coimbra from Angola, in a game that the Dream Team won by an overwhelming 116-48 margin. Some players from the other teams were reportedly so delighted to be on the same court with the likes of Barkley, Jordan and Magic Johnson, that that some of them actually, allegedly sought autographs from the Dream Team members after the game!

Barkley also played for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Houston Rockets during his NBA career; he is now a commentator for TNT.

Here is his quote:

"I don't think of myself as giving interviews. I just have conversations. That gets me in trouble."http://www.charlesbarkley.com

Happy Birthday Cuneyt Arkin

Cuneyt Arkin, Turkey's leading machismo action movie hero of the 1970s turns 73 today.

We are big fans of Arkin who is perhaps best known in the rest of the world for his gymnastics stunts that he performed as the lead in the famous/infamous 1982 film "The Man Who Saved the World," which is also known as "The Turkish Star Wars" since it was a rip-off of the George Lucas mega-blockbuster.

Arkin, who has appeared in more than 250 films, made his debut with "We Are Not Alone" in 1964. Up until the '70s, he was predominantly a romantic leading man along the lines of Gregory Peck or Rock Hudson with Turkish cinema goddess Turkan Soray often playing his conquests.

But, that quickly changed when Turkey's brief war with Greece over Cyprus in 1974 caused a nationalist frenzy in Turkey which was illustrated through Arkin's film of the period, most notably "Once Vatan/My Nation First" (1974).

Arkin also starred in "Little Cowboy" (1973), which is perhaps the ultimate oxy moron- a Turkish Western!

Though none of his films are available in the United States except through Turkish good distributors like tulumba.com, several of his films like "Lion Man" (1975) and "Holy Sword" (1982) have developed underground cult followings.

SIDEBAR: The world basketball championships are underway in Istanbul and both The United States and Turkey have performed well so far. Turkey beat France 95-77 and the team will next face Slovenia on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Team America, with NBA players like Kevin Durant, bounced the African nation of Angola out of the tournament with a 121-66 win in which a former Montana State player named Divaldo Mbguna scored four points for the losing side.

Turkey also won a road game by a 3-0 score against Kazakhstan (which is where the fictional journalist Borat hailed from) in a European Cup qualifier on Friday.